Tag: Mark Few

Tom Izzo one of just four coaches without a losing season after 15 years

Tom Izzo has accomplished a lot during his time at MSU, but did you know during his tenure that he has never had a losing season!

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The FOX College Hoops Twitter account made note of a few active coaches who have 15+ years of experience with no losing record, among them are St. John’s Mike Anderson, Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, and MSU’s very own Tom Izzo!

Tom Izzo has been with the Spartans since 1995 and has only gotten better with experience. He has made the NCAA Tourney every year since 1997, his third season as head coach. His overall record at MSU is an astonishing 628-241, a winning percentage of 72.3%! Plus he has a College Basketball Championship from 1999-2000.

Mike Anderson has coached for UAB, Missouri, Arkansas, and St. John’s over the course of 18 years and has a record of 386-215 (.531 win percentage).  He has coached his teams to nine NCAA Tourneys and advanced as far as the Elite Eight in 2008-09 with Missori.

Mark Few has coached the Gonzaga Bulldogs since 1999 and has made the tournament every year.  His total record is 599-124 and a win percentage of .828!  His best year was 2016-17 where the Bulldogs went 37-2 and were runner-ups in that years NCAA Tournament.

Lastly, Jim Boeheim the longest tenured coach has been coaching the Syracuse Orange since 1976!  He has a record of 964-399, which is a win percentage of .707.  He had an additional 101 wins stripped due to various scandals.  He has lead Syracuse to the NCAA Tournament a total of 34 times and won the championship in 2002-03 lead by Carmelo Anthony.

Who do you think of these four have been the most impressive?

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ESPN’s Best College Basketball Coach Hirings of Last 25 Years

The top five are obvious but who have the other fantastic hires of college basketball been the last quarter century?

When you think back to 1996 and go through today there are some college basketball head coaches who have knocked their jobs out of the park.

Roy Williams has won three national championships since being hired by North Carolina in 2003.  Bill Self hasn’t had a year where he failed to win a Big XII and his Kansas Jayhawks won it all in 2008.  Jay Wright has taken Villanova to new heights and a pair of national titles while Tom Izzo has led the Michigan State Spartans to eight Final Four appearances and a national championship in 2000.

Those are the obvious ones to best hires in that run.  What about the other, not so obvious great hires?

ESPN’s John Gasaway ranked the 25 best college basketball hires of the last 25 years with the caveat that the coach still has to be active even if they’re now employed by a different program.

Those obvious names made the list with Williams one, Wright two, Izzo three and Self four.

John Calipari at Kentucky, Tony Bennett at Virginia and Mark Few of Gonzaga are all on the list as well. A name Notre Dame fans are plenty familiar with checked in at 14th as well.

14. Mike Brey, Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2000)
Brey chose his mentors well. When you’ve been an assistant to both Morgan Wootten (DeMatha High School, 1982-87) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke, 1987-95), you’re tough to beat in that category. The Fighting Irish have been to 12 of the 19 NCAA tournaments that have been played since his hiring, and ND nearly beat team of the decade Kentucky in the 2015 Elite Eight.

There isn’t much to complain about here if you’re a Notre Dame fan or Brey supporter.  Perhaps Leonard Hamilton at Florida State being ranked eighth might seem as a bit of a slight but Hamilton has had the Seminoles playing at a higher level than Notre Dame the last couple of years.

Whatever the case it’s nice to see Brey get some national love for a program that had an entire decade without an NCAA Tournament appearance before his arrival.

Makes you really miss what could have been with Matt Doherty, doesn’t it?